Rebecca Braslau
Professor
she, her, her, hers, herself
Physical & Biological Sciences Division
Professor
Faculty
Physical Sciences Building
Physical Sciences Bldg 342
Physical Sciences Bldg 342 (Office)
Physical Sciences Bldg 395 (Lab)
TBA
Chemistry
B.A., Reed College
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Post-Doctoral Felowship with Prof. Dr. Bernd Giese, Universitat Basel, Switzerland
Synthetic organic chemistry, upcycling waste polymers, free radicals, nitroxides, synthetically modified polymers, development of non-migratory plasticizers, upcycling of polymers with all-carbon backbones
Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Organic Free Radicals, Nitroxides, Nitroxide-Mediated Free Radical Polymerization, Development of Tailored Materials for Nanotechnology and Biomedical Applications, Nitroxide-based Sensors
My synthetic organic research group is focused on developing methods to upcycle waste conventional plastics, particularly those with all carbon chains, with the aim to contribute to a increasingly sustainable future with regards to protecting the environment and resource utilization.
Selected Publications from approximately the last decade
Patrick W. Skelly, Chayo Fuentes Chang, Rebecca Braslau,* “Degradation of Polyvinyl Chloride by Sequential Dehydrochlorination and Olefin Metathesis,” ChemPlusChem, 2023, 88, e20230018. DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202300184
Carlos M. R. Abreu, Talita C. Rezende, Armenio C. Serra, Ana C. Fonseca, Rebecca Braslau, Jorge F. J. Coelho,* “Convenient and Industrially Viable Internal Plasticization of Poly(Vinyl Chloride): Copolymerization of Vinyl Chloride and Commercial Monomers,” Polymer, 2023, 267, 125688. DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2023.125688
Patrick W. Skelly, Longbo Li, Rebecca Braslau,* “Internal Plasticization of PVC,” Polymer Reviews, 2022, 62, 485-528. DOI: 10.1080/15583724.2021.1986066
Longbo Li, Yanika Schneider, Adrienne B. Hoeglund, Rebecca Braslau,* “Advances in Internal Plasticization of PVC: Copper-Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization from PVC Defects Sites to Form Acrylate Graft Copolymers,” Synlett, 2021, 32, 497-501. DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1610764
Longbo Li, Yanika Schneider, Adrienne B. Hoeglund, Rebecca Braslau,* “Internal Plasticization of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) by Grafting Acrylate Copolymers via Copper-Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization,” Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2021, 138, e50747. DOI: 10.1002/app.50747
Talita C. Rezende, Carlos M. R. Abreu, Ana C. Fonseca, Chad M. Higa, Longbo Li, Armenio C. Serra, Rebecca Braslau, Jorge F. J. Coelho “Efficient Internal Plasticization of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) via Free Radical Copolymerization of Vinyl Chloride with an Acrylate Bearing a Triazole Phthalate Mimic,” Polymer, 2020, 196, 122473-122481. DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2020.122473
Aruna Earla, Eric D. Walter, and Rebecca Braslau,* “Synthesis and Spin Trapping Properties of Polystyrene Supported Trifluoromethylated Cyclic Nitrones,” Free Radical Research, 2019, 53 (11-12), 1084-1100. DOI: 10.1080/10715762.2019.1683171.
Patrick W. Skelly, Jirapon Sae-Jew, Ana Paula Kitos Vasconcelos, Jerin Tasnim, Longbo Li, Jevgenij Raskatov, and Rebecca Braslau,* “Relative Rates of Metal-Free Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions: Tunability over Three Orders of Magnitude,” Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2019, 84, 13615-13623. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.9b01887
Longbo Li, Andy T. Tek, Rudy J. Wojtecki, and Rebecca Braslau,* “Internal Plasticization of Poly(vinyl) Chloride using Glutamic Acid as a Branched Linker to Incorporate Four Plasticizers per Anchor Point,” Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 2019, 57, 1821-1835. DOI: 10.1002/pola.29455
Wiley Schultz-Simonton, Patrick Skelly, Indranil Chakraborty, Pradip Mascharak, and Rebecca Braslau* "Synthesis, Structure, and Fluorescence Behavior of Profluorescent 8-amino BODIPY Nitroxides" European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2019, 7, 1583-1587. DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.201801758
Chad M. Higa, Andy T. Tek, Rudy J. Wojtecki, Rebecca Braslau,* "Non-Migratory Internal Plasticization of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) via Pendant Triazoles Bearing Alkyl or Polyether Esters" Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 2018, 56, 2397-2411. DOI: 10.1002/pola.29205
M. N. Pinto, I. Chakraborty, W. Schultz-Simonton, M. Rojas-Andrade, R. Braslau, P. K. Mascharak “Tracking silver delivery to bacteria using turn-on fluorescence,” Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 1459-1462. DOI: 10.1039/C6CC07463D.
A. Earla, L. Li, P. Costanzo, R. Braslau “Phthalate Plasticizers Covalently Linked to PVC via Copper-Free or Copper Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions,” Polymer, 2017, 109, 1-12. DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2016.12.014
C. L. Bailey, J. W. Clary, C. Tansakul, L. Klabunde, C. L. Anderson, A. Y. Joh, A. T. Lill, N. Peer, R. Braslau, and B. Singaram* “Reduction of Weinreb Amides to Aldehydes under Ambient Conditions with Magnesium Borohydride Reagents,” Tetrahedron Letters, 2015, 5, 5725-5733. DOI: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2014.12.066
C. Magee, A Earla, J. Petraitis, C. Higa, R. Braslau,* P. B. Zetterlund,* F. Aldabbagh* “Synthesis of Fluorinated Alkoxyamines and Alkoxyamine-Initiated Nitroxide-Mediated Precipitation Polymerizations of Styrene in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide,” Polymer Chemistry, 2014, 5, 5725-5733. doi: 10.1039/c4py00757c.
A. Earla, R. Braslau* “Covalently Linked Plasticizers: Triazole Analogues of Phthalate Plasticizers Prepared by mild Copper-free “Click” Reactions with Azide-functionalized PVC,” Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 2014, 35, 666-671. doi: 10.1002/marc.201300865.
R. Braslau,* F. Rivera, C. Tansakul “Reversible Crosslinking of Polymers bearing Pendant or Terminal Thiol Groups Prepared by Nitroxide-Mediated Radical Polymerization,” Reactive and Functional Polymers, 2013, 73, 624-632. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reactfunctpolym.2013.01.009.
R. Braslau,* F. Schäffner, A. Earla “Polymeric phthalates: potential non-migratory macromolecular plasticizers,” Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 2013, 51, 1775-1184. doi: 10.1002/pola.26485.
